Access restored, but ban on Fergahana News remains

On Wednesday, more than a year after being blocked
in Kyrgyzstan by government order, Ferghana
News was again accessible
to the public without the aid of proxy servers. Most local Internet
providers, including the state-owned Kyrgyz Telecom, restored access to the
website, Daniil Kislov, Ferghana's
editor, told CPJ.

Although this is good news, Kislov is not celebrating yet: the government has not revoked its censorship
order, and the newsroom is still waiting for a Kyrgyz appeals court to review
the site's lawsuit
against the government. In the meantime, Kyrgyzstan could again block the site--although
not allowed by the country's constitution--at any moment.

Based in Moscow, Ferghana News is popular for real-time
reporting by a network of journalists and stringers spread across Central Asia.
Their dedication to journalism and critical reporting has brought the outlet
respect and recognition, but has also landed it on the blacklists of many of
the authoritarian regimes that dominate the region.

According to Kislov and CPJ research, Ferghana News is permanently blocked in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan,
both known for their severe intolerance to critical journalism. In Tajikistan,
authorities deny
domestic access on an occasional basis, when Ferghana (along
with other regional outlets) reports on sensitive issues. In Kazakhstan,
Kislov said, there was one incident a few years ago, but it was hard to say whether
it was a technical glitch or the website was deliberately blocked.

Access to Ferghana
News in Kyrgyzstan was off and on until February 2012, depending on when the
site covered local government corruption, human rights abuses, or social
discontent about state policies. Together with local journalists and press
freedom groups, CPJ protested when the site was blocked, and Ferghana would come back online. But
some 18 months after the website reported on the June 2010 violent conflict
between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek residents in the south of the country,
authorities imposed a permanent ban.

In a June 2011 parliament resolution,
Kyrgyz lawmakers addressed the conflict and put together a list of recommended
actions for the government. One of them was to block Ferghana News. The resolution did not contain any reasons for the
step, nor say anything about obtaining a court order which, under Kyrgyz media
law, is required for shutting down a media outlet. "Introduce measures
necessary to block Ferghana.ru [the
website's former domain name] on the country's information space," the
resolution said.

For a while authorities ignored the recommendation, but on
February 2012 it came
into force--residents of Kyrgyzstan no longer could access the website
directly, only through proxy servers or its page on Facebook. As in
the past, CPJ protested and urged Kyrgyz authorities to stop their
censorship practices. Former Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva as well
as current leader Almazbek
Atambayev denounced the ban, but to no avail; the state communications agency,
controlled by the prime minister's office, ignored their statements. The
parliament did the same. Kislov told CPJ that checks and balances in the Kyrgyz
system are indeed supposed to restrain the president and prevent authoritarian rule,
yet in reality the president's will is generally respected.

In November, Ferghana
Newsfiled a lawsuit
against the state communications agency arguing that it had no legal grounds to
ban the site. Ferghana's lawyer,
Nurbek Toktakunov, also filed a separate lawsuit which said his right to access
information was being denied. But after several hearings, in which local Internet
service providers took the website's side, the court sided with the agency and
adjourned the case. On April 5, Ferghanaappealed
the ruling, and Internet providers officially asked the
communications agency to allow them restore access to the website. The
providers said they hope on Friday to get official permission, which would
serve as a degree of protection against retaliation, and which they promised to
share with the website.

The providers unblocked Ferghana
on Wednesday, but--aware of realities in Central Asia, where authorities change
their minds about the press depending on the amount of criticism directed at
them--Kislov wants to see the ban officially removed. And so do we; Kyrgyzstan
must do away with censorship once and for all.

Muzaffar Suleymanov, research associate for CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program, has a master’s degree in international peace studies from the U.N. University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica.

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